Digital cross-connect systems are an integral part of today's modern telecommunications transport network. They are increasingly used by all service providers including exchange carriers, long distance carriers, and competitive by-pass carriers. Significant technology advancements have allowed digital cross-connect systems to evolve from narrowband grooming and test applications to cross-connection of larger network signals in wideband and broadband frequency domains.
A broadband system is typically used to terminate high speed SONET optical and electrical signals in order to path terminate and groom lower speed broadband signals. The broadband system also supports performance monitoring and test access functions. Typical broadband cross-connect systems use either single stage or three stage Clos matrix architecture. In the three stage matrix architecture, the cross-connect includes switches grouped into an originating stage, a center stage, and a terminating stage. The three stage matrix architecture is best suited for maximum capacity applications for cross-connecting a large volume of signals. The single stage matrix architecture organizes the single stage matrices in rows and columns, which results in a higher number of switches than the three stage architecture.
For an application that requires a small capacity cross-connection (48 to 192 ports), the three stage and single stage architecture have proven to be costly and cumbersome. Accordingly, there is a need for a digital cross-connect system that is fully non-blocking, reliable, cost effective, and space efficient.